You are here: HomeNewsChaplain for Sport urges Government to intervene in sport’s racism issue

Chaplain for Sport urges Government to intervene in sport’s racism issue

Saturday, 24th August 2019

The Westminster Chaplain for Sport has urged the Government to intervene in efforts to eradicate the “repellent scourge” of racism from sport.

He urged the public to contact their MPs to make sure that they are actively stepping up attempts to do so.

His call comes after Phil Neville called on the “football community” to boycott social media platforms until they do more to tackle the discriminatory abuse directed at players after a group of footballers became victims of vile, racist abuse online.

Pogba’s treatment prompted a rapid response from his club, which issued a strong statement to condemn the abuse and urge social media companies ‘to take action’.

The French star’s teammates Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard have both tweeted their support, too, while United defender Harry Maguire has suggested that people should only be able to open social media accounts if they provide proof of identity.

England Women’s manager Neville, who played nearly 400 games for United, agrees with Maguire but believes companies like Twitter will only act if they are forced to do so.

Speaking to reporters at St George’s Park, the Lionesses boss said the most recent outbreak of overt racism on social media shows the problem is “not going away” despite the positive work being done by anti-discrimination groups such as Kick It Out and the football authorities.

“I think we probably have to take drastic measures now as a football community – I’ve had it with my players on social media, the Premier League stars and the Championship have had it,” said Neville.

“I just wonder whether as a football community we come off social media. Because Twitter won’t do anything about it, Instagram won’t do anything about it – they send you an email reply saying they’ll investigate but nothing happens.

“I’ve lost total faith in whoever runs these social media departments, so let’s send a powerful message: come off social media (for) six months. Let’s see the effect it has on these social media companies.”